


The Devil Makes Three

by cjwritergal



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Family Feels, Female Character of Color, Gen, Halloween, Horror, Original Character(s), Sad, Sisters, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjwritergal/pseuds/cjwritergal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'll give you anything you want. Anything. In exchange. </p><p>In exchange for what?</p><p>In exchange for you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Devil Makes Three

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone. My subscribers may be surprised to see this, as I've never posted original work here (or anywhere else, really). I recently submitted this to the "Queers Destroy Horror" and "Queers Destroy Fantasy" anthology that's coming up. Sadly, it was rejected. I worked hard on it, and as a long-ish short story I knew it wouldn't get published anywhere else, so I thought I would put it here. Despite the rejections, I feel pretty proud of how it turned out. As always, comments and criticisms are welcome.
> 
> With this story, I really wanted to take some of the popular urban myths of today and create something that was unique, and still managed to be creepy at the same time. I hope all of you enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks to ballerinaduck, kat2kool, and bugzattack, who gave me some great feedback and helped me make this story better. 
> 
> The nursery rhyme used in this story is "There Was a Man in Our Town", which I found online listed from a book of nursery rhymes. The place described here is actually Denver, Colorado, and I tried to be as accurate to the scenery as possible (yes, even the statue mentioned is real - it's the statue of "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod").

* * *

Alicia knocked on the door and stepped back to stand by her sister. They held out their pillowcases as the door opened, and said together: “Trick-or-Treat!”

The middle-aged white man on the other side of the door smiled at them, a bowl of candy tucked under his arm.

“Well, hello there!” He said, grabbing a fistful of candy and dropping it into Alicia’s bag, and then Dani’s. “You two look great!”

“Thank you!” Alicia replied enthusiastically. Even though they’d heard pretty much the same words over and over at every door they stopped at, it was still nice to hear, especially considering how hard she had worked on her costume.

“Thanks!” Dani echoed, beaming, throwing out her chest a little to show off the time-turner necklace she was wearing.

The man laughed. “You’re Hermione, right?” He asked, and Dani nodded. She reached into her pillowcase and pulled out the shabby, orange, tomcat stuffed animal she had been keeping stored in there after she got tired of holding it.

“I even have a Crookshanks!” She told him proudly, and Alicia couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Very cool,” the man told her seriously.

“I know,” Dani said, putting the stuffed Crookshanks back into her bag.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who you are,” the man said, turning to Alicia. “A superhero?”

“Yeah,” Alicia shrugged. Most people hadn’t recognized her, which was a little disappointing, but they still seemed to like the costume. “I’m Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel.”

The man frowned, and she knew that he didn’t recognize the title either. “Ah.” Then his eyes caught on something behind them, and Alicia turned her head to see more trick-or-treaters heading up the walkway to the house. She grabbed Dani’s hand and started to lead her back toward the street.

“Thanks for the candy!” She called back to the man, who waved. They paused on the sidewalk outside of his house, and peeked inside their bags.

“Anything good?” Alicia asked Dani.

“Uh-huh.” Dani dug through her bag with some difficulty, due to the stuffed cat in her way. “Lots, this time. Not like that other house.” She made a face.

Alicia snorted. “No kidding. Why would anyone only hand out black licorice on Halloween?”

Dani shrugged. “I don’t know why anyone would even like it; it’s gross!”

Before she could respond, Alicia felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out to see a text message from their mom, asking how the night was going so far. She texted a quick reply – _just as good as it was twenty minutes ago –_ fighting the urge to roll her eyes. It was the first year she’d been allowed to take Dani out trick-or-treating by themselves. She was _twelve_ after all, and well past the need for babysitting, even if it was her parents. She was more than capable of taking care of her nine-year-old sister for a few hours in a good neighborhood, surrounded by a lot of people. It had taken some convincing for their parents to agree to it, but Alicia had been adamant. She wasn’t entirely sure she would even be trick-or-treating next year, and so she wanted to take advantage of it. Eventually her parents had agreed, on the condition that Alicia check in often and that they stay in the Washington Park neighborhood.

Alicia had been checking in _plenty_ too, but her mom was nothing if not careful, so Alicia wasn’t really surprised that she was texting as much as she had been.

“Anyway,” she said, putting her phone back in her pocket, “let’s keep going.”

“Accio candy!” Dani shouted, pointing her wand dramatically down the street, her hair bobbing a little in the breeze. She had their mom’s hair; curly and black, it stuck out wildly in all directions.

Alicia laughed, and they set off.

All around them people in costume walked happily from house to house, talking excitedly. It was mostly parents and young kids, but there were also a fair amount of kids around her age, as well as teenagers, walking around. Like every year, there were several people with variations of the same costume: a lot of Spider-Mans and Batmans, several Katnisses, Disney princesses, as well as the standard ghosts and pirates, and various revealing outfits.

There were even some people that didn’t look like they were in costume. They ranged a little in age: some of them were closer to Dani’s age, while others were older than Alicia, though none of them looked to be more than sixteen or so. They wore casual clothes, like jeans and flannel shirts, and kept walking up and down the street in groups of two or three.

Alicia and Dani made their way further up the street, admiring the decorations as they went. One house had all kinds of lights strung up through their trees, as well as a strobe light by the porch, and had decorated their front yard to look like a graveyard. There were even fake skeleton hands trying to claw their way out of the graves, and the woman standing on the porch holding a candy bowl was dressed as a zombie.

Sharing a grin, they started up the walkway to the front porch, stopping at the back of the line that had formed there. Alicia stayed close to Dani, as she had been the whole night. She might have thought that her mom was being a little over-protective, but Alicia had been looking after Dani – and helping to keep her safe – for almost as long as she could remember, and she could admit that she might be feeling a little over-protective of her as well.

It wasn’t really surprising, Alicia knew. They’d always gotten along really well, despite the three-year age difference. They had a lot of the same interests, and they honestly spent quite a bit of time together just hanging out. They’d watched cartoons together, could sing all the Disney duets (and often did, especially when they were alone) and Alicia had gotten Dani interested in reading – as well as all kinds of geeky stuff – by reading her Harry Potter before bed. They even looked pretty similar: same dark skin, same green eyes, same slightly-chubby build, though Dani’s hair was poofy and curly and Alicia’s was straight like their father’s. Dani also had braces, while Alicia had more freckles (and more acne, to Alicia’s frustration).

“Can I have some candy?” Dani asked, jolting Alicia out of her thoughts, already reaching into her bag as if she’d said yes.

“You’re going to eat all of it before the night’s over, and then you won’t have any left,” Alicia said, crossing her arms.

Dani rolled her eyes. “I can’t eat that much candy! I’d explode!”

“Wouldn’t stop you from trying,” Alicia countered.

Dani pouted. “ _You’ve_ been eating your candy all night!”

Alicia flushed. “I’ve just had a couple. You can have a few pieces, but then hold off for a while, all right?”

“Kay,” Dani said, immediately pulling out a candy bar and unwrapping it with the help of her teeth. By the time they reached the front of the line a few seconds later she had finished it, just in time to say “trick-or-treat” again.

The zombie woman smiled brightly at them but didn’t make any comments about their costumes, and they hurried back down the walkway out toward the street after they’d gotten their candy.

“Okay,” Alicia said, looking down into her bag as they walked, “Do you want my Butterfingers? I’ll take your – “ She was cut off as she bumped into someone, their heads knocking a little together.

“Ow,” she said automatically, looking up and feeling a little embarrassed. “Sorry about that,” she said.

“It’s fine,” the other girl replied. She was one of the people not in costume; she was just wearing jeans and a red and white flannel shirt. She was white, thin, and a little older than Alicia, maybe fourteen or fifteen, and had straight blond hair. She smiled a little.

For a second Alicia just stared at her. The girl was wearing colored contacts, ones that turned her eyes completely black, and it was kind of distracting, though also pretty awesome.

“Oh!” Alicia said, realizing she’d been staring. “Sorry, it’s just – I thought you weren’t in costume, but you’re a _Supernatural_ character, right? Nice demon eyes!”

The girl smiled wider. “Thank you. My name is Katie.” She held out her hand, and Alicia shook it. The girl’s hand was kind of cold, but hers probably wasn’t much better.

“I’m Alicia, and this is my sister Dani,” Alicia said, gesturing toward Dani as she did so. Dani smiled at Katie, but was more focused on eating another piece of candy.

“This is Mark,” Katie said, nodding toward the black boy on her left, “And Beth,” she added about the other white girl on her right. The other two didn’t say anything, just smiled. They were wearing black contacts too.

“Nice to meet you,” Alicia said politely. All three of them kept smiling at her, and maybe it was just the black contacts, but she felt a shiver go up her spine, and her stomach twisted uneasily.

“A- anyway,” She said, looking over at Dani who was now openly staring at them as well. “We’ve, um, gotta go. Sorry for bumping into you!” She grabbed Dani’s hand and started to pull her along.

“Wait.” Katie said, and Alicia froze in place, looking back at the older girl who was still smiling pleasantly.

“Uh, yeah?” Alicia asked, gripping Dani’s hand a little more tightly.

“You guys seem pretty cool,” Katie said, either not noticing or deliberately ignoring Alicia’s discomfort. “Do you want to come with us to this really awesome haunted house?”

“Oh, um, thanks, but no thanks,” Alicia said, trying to sound as apologetic as possible.

Katie was still smiling, but it seemed stiffer than before. “Come on. It will be fun.”

“No, thank you,” Alicia said, scowling a little, irritation overcoming the sick feeling in her stomach. “We’re supposed to stay in this neighborhood – “

“It’s not far,” Katie pressed, stepping closer.

“No!” Alicia all-but shouted, taking a step back and turning around again. Katie’s hand grabbed her arm, hard, her nails digging through the costume fabric and into her skin.

“Hey!” Alicia cried, “Let – “ She looked over and met Katie’s black eyes again.

“Come with us,” Katie repeated, and her words seemed to somehow come from all directions, to echo in Alicia’s head: _comewithuscomewithuscomewithus_.

Alicia couldn’t speak, couldn’t look away, even as she felt Dani pulling on her arm, crying, she still couldn’t move. The world around her seemed to almost…fade away, like it was encased in heavy fog. She couldn’t see anything else but Katie’s eyes, couldn’t hear anything except her voice, over and over–

“Okay,” Alicia said, and it was like resurfacing from under water. Sound returned, and she could breathe again, but it was all still strangely muted, as if maybe there was water left in her ears. She shook her head, and noticed vaguely that Dani had let go of her hand and was standing just as still next to her, staring off into space.

“Come on, Dani,” Alicia said, taking her hand loosely. Her limbs felt strangely heavy.

“Okay,” Dani replied, and Alicia saw Katie’s smile widen, showing her teeth.

“Come this way,” Katie said, leading the way with Beth and Mark at her sides. They hadn’t moved or said a word, and barely glanced at Alicia and Dani now.

No one looked twice at them as they followed Katie toward the beginning of the street, their bags of candy clutched limply in their hands.

Alicia rubbed her eyes, yawning. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth, and she struggled to speak. The words didn’t want to come, and their sounds swirled uselessly in her mind, not making any sense. She tried to concentrate. She knew, somehow, that it was important she say _something_. Finally, it came to her.

“I have to call my parents,” She said, and her voice sounded strange to her ears. She reached into her pocket for her phone. “I’m supposed – supposed to – “

“You can’t,” Katie said calmly, not even looking back at them. “Your phone isn’t working.”

Alicia frowned. That didn’t sound right.

“It isn’t working,” Katie insisted a little more forcefully.

Alicia took her hand out of her pocket, letting go of her phone. “Right,” she said dazedly.

They kept walking. Alicia knew that they were leaving the neighborhood, but she couldn’t figure out where they were going, where she was. Her eyes passed right over her surroundings without taking them in at all. She felt…weightless, almost. Empty. All she knew was that she had to keep going forward, and that she had to keep holding Dani’s hand. 

Suddenly Alicia became aware of where she was. They’d stopped moving, and were standing on a street corner. She could see the actual Washington Park not that far away. She was still holding Dani’s hand, and they were gathered with Katie, Beth, Mark, and several other kids as well. Some of them were dressed like Katie, black eyes and all, while others were clearly trick-or-treaters like Alicia and Dani. The trick-or-treaters were all standing together, blinking sleepily and looking at their surroundings with vague surprise.

Alicia rubbed her eyes, and saw at the head of the group a pair of twins. They were a little girl and boy, no older than Dani, and maybe even a little younger. They were black, and were holding hands, swinging them idly as they stood there.

Katie walked toward the twins. “I have the rest,” she told them simply, gesturing back toward Alicia and Dani.

The twins nodded, and then spoke. “This way,” the boy twin said.

“We have to go through the park,” the girl added.

“Where are we going?” One of the trick-or-treaters - a boy dressed as a Jedi - asked.

Alicia blinked at the question. Where _were_ they going? She wasn’t supposed to go anywhere, she’d promised -

“Somewhere fun,” Katie told him, smiling and he nodded, looking down at the plastic lightsaber held loosely in his hand.

Right. Somewhere fun. There was nothing wrong with that. Her parents would understand.

“Leave those here,” Katie said, turning to Alicia and gesturing at the bags of candy she and Dani were still holding.

Of course. They wouldn’t need candy. How silly of her. She dropped the pillowcase on the ground, Dani and the other trick-or-treaters doing the same.

The rest of Katie’s friends – all of them with black contacts like her – circled around them, shuffling them closer together. Alicia bumped shoulders with a couple of them, but they didn’t seem to notice. She barely did, and only after the fact, and then it slipped away from her mind moments later.

They started walking again, toward the park.

The moment they crossed over onto the grass of the park, something changed. She didn’t know what it was, or what was happening, but her stomach twisted, and she squeezed Dani’s hand more tightly, but she tried to shake it off. They were just going to a haunted house; there was no reason to be scared. Still, she scooted in a little closer with the others, and kept walking. The ring of Katie’s friends stayed around them, and as they walked they seemed to relax. They smiled, and a few of them even laughed.

There was a man sleeping on a bench. As they approached he twitched in his sleep, and then sat upright with a startled grunt. For a moment he just stared at them as they walked toward him, his mouth a little open, and then he stumbled up off of the bench, nearly tripping by hitting the corner, and ran away into the darkness in the opposite direction.

Katie laughed loudly, the sound ringing in Alicia’s ears. “Adults don’t like us much,” she said, and the other black-eyed kids around them laughed too.

Alicia tried to smile with them, but it felt strangely difficult.

They kept walking, and Alicia noticed a statue near the path. It was marble, and looked kind of silvery in the dim light of the lamps along the path. She’d seen it before: her parents had told her that it was a statue of characters from a kid’s story. She’d always thought it was cute. The statue depicted some young children, one just a little older than the other, sitting in a boat on the water. The older was sitting behind the younger, with its hands stroking the sides of the younger’s face. The younger kid was leaning back against the other’s shoulder, like he was falling asleep.

When they got closer, Alicia found she couldn’t look away from the statue, and she felt a chill go along her spine the longer she stared at it.

As they drew level with it, it was like the kids in the statue were looking at something behind her. And, where seconds ago it had seemed like one of them was holding the other protectively, as she passed, unable to look away, the more wrong it felt. The older child in the statue had its fingers spread by the other’s throat from behind, baring the younger’s jugular, tipping the head up, like it was presenting it, or offering it, somehow.

She felt sick.

Slowly, she reached her free hand into her pocket, her heart starting to pound. She moved carefully, hoping that none of the black-eyed kids around them would notice.

She led Dani a little further into the group of people, trying to get as close to the middle of the trick-or-treaters as possible. The others were looking around at their surroundings, confusion and the beginnings of fear starting to show on their faces. Letting out a shaking breath, Alicia took her phone out of her pocket, keeping it low, by her hip, so that she could look at it without Katie or someone else seeing. Her thumb hovered over the buttons to call her parents, or 9-1-1, when she noticed the words in the top corner of her phone: NO SERVICE.

Alicia swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. It made no sense – there _had_ to be service, they were in the middle of the city – but she knew that it wouldn’t work. Katie had been right. With trembling fingers, she put her phone back in her pocket. Dani’s hand was shaking, and Alicia glanced down at her sister to see her eyes were wide, and filling with tears.

“I’m scared,” Dani whispered.

Alicia let out a long breath, trying to keep her voice steady and quiet when she replied. “It’s gonna be okay,” she said, pulling Dani a little closer and holding her hand more tightly. “We’re gonna get out of here. You’ve just gotta do what I say, okay?”

Dani nodded, sniffling, wiping her eyes with the back of her free hand.  

Alicia looked around the group. They were surrounded by these black-eyed kids – and Alicia knew in that moment that they weren’t kids, not really – so pushing through them by herself with Dani wouldn’t work. They’d grab her and chase after them, and then it would all be over, because who _knew_ what they wanted to do to them. How could she have been so stupid? She was supposed to keep Dani safe, and she’d taken her to a bunch of – of _things_ that probably wanted to hurt them, and it was all her fault –

Alicia forced herself to take a deep breath. _No_. She couldn’t freak out. She had to stay calm. She had to find a way to get away with Dani, and then maybe they could go get help for the other kids. Or maybe… she frowned, and then looked around again, quickly counting. Including herself and Dani, there were thirteen trick-or-treaters, and only ten of the black-eyed kids. If they all tried to escape, the black-eyed kids could be overpowered, and they could get away! They had to try – there was no other option, and like hell she was going to stay –

\- but then another thought came to her. The black-eyed kids had lured them, hadn’t they? Alicia fought to remember what Katie had said to the twins, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. Whatever had taken over her – over all of them – made her memories as solid as smoke. If they had lured all of them specifically, and stopped at that number, knowing that they would be _out_ numbered…then that would mean these black-eyed kids weren’t afraid of their prey getting away.

Alicia tried to keep her breathing even, but there was a lump in her throat that made it difficult, and her vision was starting to swim with tears. She blinked them away, though she couldn’t get her body to stop shaking. She still had to try.

“I wanna go _home_!” a young trick-or-treater cried, jolting her out of her thoughts.

It was like his words broke the spell. The fog lifted, and the other kids took in the situation with mounting panic.

“Wh – where are we?” One called out, while others desperately checked their phones only to see that they didn’t have service either.

“Where are we _going_?” An older kid – a little older than Alicia even – demanded.

“This – this isn’t right – “ a boy next to her muttered. His eyes were flicking around wildly, and he clutched his head in his hands. “I – we’ve gotta – “

Alicia tensed, pulling Dani closer. “Get ready to run,” she whispered, watching the boy. She could feel it, like the seconds before a startled cat ran, knew that this was their moment, they had to get away, they _had_ to –

The boy spun around, and ran toward the back of the group, toward the back of the circle, and Alicia wasn’t far behind him, and she could hear the others running in all directions –

As one, the black-eyed kids simply stopped and stared at them.

“ _You’re not going anywhere_ ,” they said together, and Alicia froze as the black eyes met her own.

 _You’re not going anywhere. Nowhere. Nowhere to run. You can’t run. You can’t escape._ She tried to force her body to move, but it wouldn’t, and all she could hear was their voices in her head, because they were right, it was pointless, they couldn’t get away, and maybe it would be better this way –

Alicia gasped, like she was waking from a nightmare, panting, looking around wildly, still unable to move the rest of her body.

She wasn’t the only one. All of the other trick-or-treaters were still, some even with an arm or leg halfway caught in movement. Some were looking dazed, like they had at the beginning, while others were shrieking, heads whipping around wildly, trying to do something, _anything_.

“Dani – “ Alicia gasped. It was hard to talk, like there was something constricting her chest, pressing down on it harder and harder.

Dani was crying. “Please – it _hurts_ – “ She howled, her words difficult to understand with the force of her tears. “Make it stop – _Alicia make it STOP_ – “

“ _You can’t leave yet_.” The black-eyed kids said again in unison, their voices seeming to reverberate down into Alicia’s bones, cutting off Dani’s words, and everyone else’s sharply and suddenly. For several seconds everything was quiet.

“ _Keep walking_ ,” the black-eyed kids said, and then they could move again.

For a few moments all they could do was breathe, hunched over and crying, and then the black-eyed kids pressed closer to them, and they started moving again.

Alicia held Dani tightly against her side, still shaking. “Why are you _doing_ this?” She asked the black-eyed kids, her voice cracking.

The black-eyed kids kept walking, and then replied in unison again: “ _We are doing what is asked of us_.”

Alicia let out a sob. “No one is asking you to do this! Please –

“ _He is_.” None of the black-eyed kids were looking at her, at any of them, just walking straight ahead.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Another girl asked. She was holding a little boy with her that Alicia guessed was her brother. “W-what do-does _he_ want from us? Please, we haven’t done anything to you! Please – “

“It isn’t what he wants.” Katie said from the head of the group, and she did turn around to look at them. “It’s what you want.” Before Alicia or anyone else could ask what that meant, Katie went on, walking backwards. “He’ll give you what you want. Anything you want. In exchange.”

For several seconds no one said anything, all of them looking at each other.

“In exchange for what?” Alicia asked in a whisper.

Katie smiled a little. “In exchange for you.” She walked closer, and put her finger to Alicia’s chest. “Your service. Your life.”

Her voice came out high-pitched. “He’s – he’s going to kill – “

“No,” Katie said seriously, no longer smiling. They had all stopped walking. “This – “ she touched Alicia’s hair, her shoulders – “This isn’t your life. It’s just a body. It’s not worth anything without the person inside it.” She turned, and they started walking again.

“What – what do you mean?” Alicia called after her, but Katie didn’t answer.

All the other black-eyed kids seemed to adopt her casual demeanor; some of them even left gaps in the circle around them, knowing that they couldn’t escape. They walked on top of benches, skipped, laughed, and even sang nursery rhymes. The twins she’d noticed before sang together in a harmony that was both beautiful and made her skin crawl.

_There was a man in our town_

_And he was wondrous wise_

_He jumped into a bramble bush_

_And scratched out both his eyes._

Some of the black-eyed kids laughed out loud at this, and the twins, still holding hands, laughed with them, and all of their voices seemed to twist in the air, surround them, until it drowned out all other noise. Dani pressed her face into her chest, and Alicia rubbed up and down her back, looking around for something, _anything_ , that could help them.

“We’re here,” Katie said, and the group stopped again.

They were standing by a lake, right next to the Mt. Vernon Gardens. The path wound through different raised sections of land, each of them covered with various plants. There were flowers and trees and bushes, some of them vibrantly colored, while others were browning now that winter was on the way.  Several old-fashioned black metal lamps were scattered in the garden, though only a few of them were lit now. One kept flickering on and off, sending strange shadows on the ground that almost seemed to be moving.

No, Alicia realized with horror, they _were_ moving.

She could only stand and watch, too afraid to move or even breathe, as the shadows from the different lamps, from the lake, from the trees, from everywhere, crawled along the ground, coming together, forming a figure that towered over them.

His shoulders were slightly hunched over, so that he loomed above them like bowing tree branches. His limbs were long, spindly, though she couldn’t see His hands or feet as they seemed to disappear into the shadow. He was wearing a black suit and tie, but that was as much as she could see. He didn’t have a face – no eyes or mouth, like an unfinished doll – but it hurt to look at Him directly. Her eyes seemed to naturally slide away from His face, and trying to stare at it made her vision start to blur and spasm, and yet for some reason she couldn’t look away completely.

Alicia tried to focus on His suit, tried not to think about His eyeless face, and the shadows swirling around Him. If she just looked at His suit, she could almost pretend that He was a normal person.

“D-don’t,” she whimpered, and she didn’t know what she was trying to say or even who she was saying it to. “D-don’t…”

Some of the other kids had sunk to their knees, while others were clearly still frozen with fear. Others still were crying, or struggling to form words like Alicia.

Dani’s head was still buried in Alicia’s chest; she was squeezing her tightly, trembling.

“Don’t look at it,” Dani whispered. “Alicia, don’t look, _don’t look_ – “

Alicia tore her eyes away from Him, focusing on Dani, even as something compelled her to keep looking, to stare at His face. She felt something wet on her lip, and touched her fingers to her nose: it was bleeding.

“ _Welcome_ ,” He said. It wasn’t just his voice; the black-eyed kids spoke with him, or maybe his voice came through them. It was all of them and more at the same time. It was everywhere at once, and came from all directions, and silenced everything else.

“ _I have an offer for all of you._ ” His voice wasn’t loud, but it still rang in her ears, and she both felt and heard Him moving closer.

“ _I can give you what you want. Anything you ask for, and it is yours, if you make a deal with me_.” The black-eyed kids stepped closer in time with him, and Alicia could see at the edges of her vision tendrils of shadow circling the group, trapping them.

“He can make people stop hurting you,” Katie said.

“He can make them hurt instead,” The boy twin added.

“He can make someone you love get better if they’re sick,” another black-eyed girl said.

“Or get them out of prison,” contributed a boy.

“He can make you live forever,” the girl twin said, still holding hands with her brother.

“ _You will never die. You will be powerful. No one will be able to hurt you again. No one will be able to keep you from getting what you want_.” He said, and Alicia looked at the others. To her shock, some of them didn’t look afraid any more; they looked _interested_. Most of them were still crying, but she was shaken out of her horror by the sound of Dani’s voice.

“I just wanna go _home_!” She’d turned her head away from Alicia’s chest, and shouted: “PLEASE! Please, please just let us go – we won’t tell anyone, we promise – please – “

“ _You should consider what I am offering_.” He said, silencing Dani. “ _If you stay, I can give you anything you want. However, if you get away, I will not stop you. I will leave you be, and you will not remember anything from this night_.”

Alicia couldn’t help it; she looked up at Him, and saw the shadows once again converging around Him, coming up behind Him like fingers or claws.

“ _If you can get away_ ,” He said, and Alicia ran.

She pulled Dani with her, and she barely noticed that most of the other kids were scattering in all directions, running every way they possibly could, screaming as they went.

“Keep running Dani, keep running, don’t stop, no matter what – “ Alicia didn’t even know if she was speaking out loud or just screaming in her mind, she had to keep running, they had to keep running, keep going.

She could hear the other kids shouting, crying, could hear the black-eyed kids laughing, chasing, and out of the corners of her eyes she could see shadows creeping towards her, twisting out from trees and under benches, reaching for her, for Dani –

“Keep going!” She shouted, and pulled Dani along, trying to stay on the path, in the light – if she could see them coming, they could keep running, could get away to the road.

The edges of her vision blurred, shook, like bad reception on a TV, and she knew that He was getting closer, but she didn’t dare to look closely. If she looked at Him head on she knew it would be over.

Alicia could hear footsteps running toward her, faster and faster, and glanced back automatically to see Katie gaining on them. Alicia forced herself to look forward again. She could see the street! They just had to keep running a little longer, had to slow Katie down, do _something_ –

Katie tackled her from behind, hitting her knees and sending Alicia crashing to the ground, Dani’s hand sliding out of hers. Alicia struggled, trying to throw Katie off, her face pressed painfully into the sidewalk.

“Alicia!” Dani cried, and Alicia looked up in time to see Dani turn around, and her foot catch on the long robes she was wearing, her arms wheeling as she tried to catch herself, and she fell, her head smacking the corner of a nearby bench with a _crack_ that seemed to shatter the very air.

Dani slumped to the ground, and did not move.

Alicia couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t real. It was a dream. It had to be a dream, or Dani was just winded and she’d get up and everything would be fine, she had to be okay, she was supposed to keep her _safe_ –

Dani still didn’t move, didn’t breathe.

“Let – “ Alicia struggled in Katie’s hold, her words coming out a strangled scream. “LET ME GO – Dani Dani Dani PLEASE – “ She kicked out, and Katie’s hold loosened. Alicia struggled to her feet, swaying, launching herself at Dani. She could hear people screaming, could see the shadows getting closer, but she didn’t care.

“Dani – “ she reached for her sister, turning her over on her back.

Dani’s eyes were open, staring straight ahead. She looked a little surprised, her mouth slightly open. Blood oozed out of the wound in her forehead.

“No, no, no,” Alicia whispered. “Dani, no, please, don’t do this, don’t – Dani, Dani please – please – “ With shaking hands she picked Dani up, pulling her into her lap, cradling her head. “Please, Dani, you _have_ to get up…”

She felt Him approach, but didn’t turn to look at him. She heard the other black-eyed kids surround them, but didn’t move. She felt what seemed like long fingers stroking down her hair, her shoulder, as she gently rocked Dani, her tears cold as they dripped down her cheeks. Slowly, she ran her hand across Dani’s curls.

“Can you bring her back?” She whispered.

“ _Yes_.” He said simply.

Alicia leaned over her sister, holding her close. For a second she could believe that Dani was sleeping. Her body was still warm.

“You won’t hurt her.” She said. Her voice was almost unrecognizable, deep and choking on the words as she struggled to speak past her tears. “You’ll – you’ll leave her alone, a- all of you, and she – “

“ _She will live_ ,” He told her. “ _I promise you that_.”

Alicia nodded, and drew back from Dani, setting her on the cold ground again.

Slowly she stood, staring down at her sister, her little sister.  She took a deep breath, and turned around, and looked Him in the face. She continued to stare at him, even as it started to hurt and her vision swam. She extended her hand.

“You have a deal,” she said.

~-~-~-~-~-~

_Three Years Later_

She watched the trick-or-treaters walking down the street in front of her house. They were happy, laughing, excited.

She waited, like she had last year. Like she had on her birthday. Like she had the night of the funeral (there had been no body, of course, but Dani had told them she was _gone_ , because what else could she tell them?).

It would happen any time now.

Dani had seen her other times, or thought she had. Always out of the corner of her eye. Under bridges. Flickering street lamps. There one second and gone the next.

Her parents – _their_ parents – were in their room, pretending to sleep. They could never bear to look at the trick-or-treaters, but Dani always did.

There was a knock on the door.

Dani walked toward it, and could see her silhouette through the glass. She always came this time of year.

Dani opened the door, and stared into Alicia’s black eyes, waiting for the question she asked every time.

“Can I come in?”


End file.
